US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte warned Thailand and Cambodia against border violence in
a continued military standoff, saying bilateral negotiations were the best way
to resolve the crisis.

"We think that [bilateral negotiation] is the most effective
way of dealing with this problem," Negroponte said, following a three-day
visit to Cambodia
this week. "And we think it's important that the use of force or coercion
has to be avoided at all costs, because that would risk undermining some of
the progress that has been achieved in the region in terms of peaceful economic
development."

Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he will approach the UN
Security Council and other multilateral avenues to solve a continued military
standoff that began in July.

The visit of Negroponte, who is the second-highest ranking
official in the US State Department, capped several years of warming relations
between the two countries.

Negroponte said the inclusion of an FBI team in the
investigation of slain opposition journalist Khim Sambor was another
"positive" step.

"I think it's a welcome development, and we want to be
as helpful as we can," he said.

Khim Sambor was shot dead with his son in Phnom Penh in July, just two weeks ahead of
national elections. He is the 12th journalist to be murdered since
1993, and his killers have not been found.